Carrier, primarily for light emitting diode

ABSTRACT

A carrier ( 10 ) comprises a body ( 12 ) and a pair of holes ( 14 ) which extend through the body ( 12 ) away from a face ( 16 ) against which a light emitting diode may be placed towards a pair of supports ( 18 ) over which respective lead wires of the light emitting diode may be bent thereby enabling a light emitting diode to simulate a wedge based lamp in allowing direct push contact of the filament lead wires with associated electrical circuitry.

Many products are fitted with so-called wedge based lamps whose filamentlead wires emerge from glass to allow direct push contact of thefilament lead wires with associated electrical circuitry.

There would be advantages, in terms of longer life and greatermechanical reliability, in utilising light emitting diodes rather thanwedge based lamps.

An aim of the present invention, therefore, is to enable a lightemitting diode to simulate a wedge based lamp in its connection with theassociated electrical circuitry.

This aim is achieved by the provision of a carrier which, in accordancewith the present invention, comprises a body and a pair of holes whichextend through the body away from a face against which a light emittingdiode may be placed towards a pair of supports over which respectivelead wires of the light emitting diode may be bent.

Preferably, the carrier is shaped so that the face against which a lightemitting diode is to be placed is generally planar, and manipulating therespective lead wires is then sufficient to hold the light emittingdiode in place.

Preferably, the carrier is provided with a tubular member between thesupports for facilitating the mounting of a pair of light emittingdiodes in series and, preferably, the carrier is shaped so that a freeend of each of the supports is formed with a respective groove.

It is desirable for the carrier to be provided with means for indicatingthe polarization of a light emitting diode.

The need to know the polarization of the light emitting diode arisesfrom the need to avoid damage resulting from incorrect powering of thelight emitting diode which would occur if the light emitting diode wasincorrectly connected to its associated electrical circuitry.

It is therefore also desirable for the carrier to be provided with meansfor preventing incorrect mounting of the carrier.

In fact, in one arrangement, the means for indicating the polarizationof the light emitting diode is further utilised as the means forpreventing the incorrect mounting of the carrier.

More particularly, a protrusion provided by the carrier may bothindicate the polarization of the light emitting diode and engage witheither a keyway or an abutment provided by a component with which thecarrier is to be associated.

A keyway could allow the carrier to be located in its then currentorientation by allowing the protrusion to enter the keyway whencorrectly orientated whereas an abutment could prevent the carrier frombeing located in its then current orientation by abutment with theprotrusion when incorrectly orientated.

In an alternative arrangement, said protrusion could be replaced by aslot or the like for engagement with a rib or the like on saidassociated component.

More generally, said protrusion could be supplemented or replaced by apart of the carrier such as a (further) slot or a (further) protrusionwhich is not primarily intended to indicate the polarization of thelight emitting diode but is primarily intended to prevent incorrectmounting of the carrier with said associated component.

Thus, in a preferred arrangement, the protrusion primarily intended toindicate polarization is distinct from the protrusion primarily intendedto prevent incorrect mounting.

Preferably, the carrier is integrally formed of an insulating material,for example by plastics moulding.

In many applications there are advantages in using light emitting diodesbecause they take much less power than lamps and there is therefor alower drain on a power source such as a battery.

One very useful application would be to replace the hazard warninglights on a car or other vehicle. This may be a direct replacement forthe indicator bulbs or be physically provided with the indicator bulbsbut connected to the hazard warning system. Either way when the vehiclebreaks down the hazard warning lights would flash with only minimaldrain on the battery.

The fact that the carrier emulates a wedge based lamp means that thereis a choice as to which to fit.

For instance, the less expensive models of a car could be fitted withwedge based lamps whereas the more expensive models could be fitted withlight emitting diodes.

Another very useful application, again for cars or other vehicles, couldbe to replace the bulbs in an instrument panel by light emitting diodeson carriers, which would have the benefit of requiring simpler drivecircuits as well as less power for the drive circuits.

Two carriers, in accordance with the present invention, will now bedescribed in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 to 5 are, respectively, side, left end, right end, top andbottom views of a first carrier;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line VI—VI ofFIG. 5;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are, respectively, side and top views of the first carrierwhen associated with a pair of light emitting diodes in series;

FIGS. 9 to 13 are, respectively, side, left end, right end, top andbottom views of a second carrier;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line XIV—XIVof FIG. 12; and

FIG. 15 schematically illustrates how the second carrier can be mountedto a series of associated electrical components, each shown in a sideview and an end view.

In the accompanying drawings, FIGS. 1 to 8 show a carrier 10 which hasbeen formed in one-piece of a plastics material to present a body 12 anda pair of holes 14 which extend through the body away from a face 16against which a light emitting diode may be placed towards a pair ofsupports 18 over which respective lead wires on the light emitting diodemay be bent.

The body 12 has a peg 20 for indicating the polarization of the lightemitting diode.

The body 12 also has a central tube 22, located between and longer thanthe supports 18, for facilitating the mounting of a pair of lightemitting diodes in series.

When the carrier 10 is to be used with a single light emitting diode,the flat face of the light emitting diode is placed against the flatface of the carrier 10, i.e. the face 16. The two lead wires of thelight emitting diode are fed through respective ones of the two holes14. The free ends of the two lead wires are then bent, in oppositedirections, over the free ends of the two supports 18. The free ends ofthe two supports 18 may be formed with respective grooves 24. Thegrooves 24 help to maintain the lead wires in place and thus help tomaintain the light emitting diode in place.

The arrangement will be more clearly understood with reference to theuse of the carrier 10 with a pair of light emitting diodes as shown inFIGS. 7 and 8.

Each of the light emitting diodes 50 is of a conventional constructionand has a pair of lead wires 51,52 extending therefrom.

Both of the light emitting diodes 50 are mounted against the flat face16. For one of the light emitting diodes 50, its lead wire 51 is fedthrough one of the holes 14 and its lead wire 52 is fed through thecentral tube 22. For the other of the light emitting diodes 50, its leadwire 51 is fed through the central tube 22 and its lead wire 52 is fedthrough the other of the holes 14. The lead wires 51,52 extendingthrough the central tube 22 are then twisted and cut to make a serieselectrical connection between the two light emitting diodes 50.

The remaining lead wire 51 and the remaining lead wire 52 are then bentin opposite directions over the free ends of the adjacent supports 18.

In FIGS. 9 to 15, a second carrier is shown in which the referencenumbers correspond to those of the first carrier but with the additionof the suffix “a”.

Accordingly, it is merely necessary to confirm that the second(preferred) carrier 10 a has again been formed in one-piece of aplastics material with a body 12 a, a pair of holes 14 a, a lightemitting diode support face 16 a, a pair of supports 18 a, a peg 20 a, acentral tube 22 a and grooves 24 a in the supports 18 a.

Now, however, the peg 20 a is supplemented by a further peg 26 a for usein helping to avoid incorrect mounting of the carrier 10 a as well as apair of flange-like walls 28 a for use in helping to locate the lightemitting diode.

As shown in FIG. 15, one face of the carrier 10 a is to be fitted withthe light emitting diode (which may optionally include a diffusingtransparent lens cap 60) and the other face of the carrier 10 a is to befitted with any selected one of a series of associated electricalcomponents such as lamp holders 70, 72, 74 and 76.

Lamp holder 70 is formed with a cylinder 78 having a slot 80 forreceiving the peg 20 a during correct insertion, and is formed with astrut 82 having a rib 84 for interfering with the peg 26 a duringincorrect insertion. If an attempt was made to insert the carrier 10 athe wrong way round, it would be extremely difficult to force the peg 26a past the rib 84 even if the peg 20 a could be forced into the cylinder78.

Lamp holder 72 is effectively the same as the lamp holder 70—lamp holder74 is formed with a cylinder 86 having a slot 88 for receiving the peg20 a and lamp holder 76 is formed with a strut 90 having a rib 92 forinterfering with the peg 26 a.

What is claimed is:
 1. A carrier in combination with two light emittingdiodes; the carrier comprising a body having a face against which thetwo light emitting diodes are placed, having an opposed face providedwith two supports and a hollow tubular member located between said twosupports, and having three holes which extend through said body, with afirst two of said holes being associated with respective ones of saidtwo supports and with the third of said holes being associated with saidhollow tubular member; and the two light emitting diodes each having apair of lead wires, with one of said lead wires of each of said twolight emitting diodes extending through a respective one of said firsttwo holes and being bent over a respective one of said supports, andwith the other of said lead wires of each of said light emitting diodesextending through the third of said holes and through said hollowtubular member and being twisted together to enable the two lightemitting diodes to be mounted in series.
 2. A combination according toclaim 1, in which the face of the carrier against which the lightemitting diodes are placed is generally planar.
 3. A combinationaccording to claim 1, in which a free end of each of the supports isformed with a respective groove.
 4. A combination according to claim 1,in which means is provided for indicating the polarization of the lightemitting diodes.
 5. A combination according to claim 4, in which themeans for indicating polarization comprises a protrusion.
 6. Acombination according to claim 1, in which means is provided forpreventing incorrect mounting of the carrier.
 7. A combination accordingto claim 6, in which the means for preventing incorrect mountingcomprises a protrusion.
 8. A combination according to claim 7, in whicha protrusion primarily intended to indicate polarization is distinctfrom the protrusion primarily intended to prevent incorrect mounting. 9.A combination according to claim 1, in which the carrier is integrallyformed of an insulating material.